1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to the post-surgical field, with particular reference to the quadrectomy, mastectomy and generally speaking to mammary surgery, including aesthetical and/reconstructive surgery.
2. Brief Description of the Art
Containing bras are usually suggested after quadrectomy or mastectomy intervention, for breasts subjected to surgical trauma, since more or less large tissue parts are ablated, and the organ is modified and reconstructed. There is a drastic intervention on the basis of the specific pathology for each case and on the basis of the age of each patient, since some times the whole organ is ablated, while other times the glands lymphatic axillary and all or part of underlying muscular tissues are also ablated. This modification of the woman body involves a psychical and physical sufferance. In any case, the femininity is modified at the physical level.
After the intervention, the patient wakes up with the thorax fully dressed by adhesive tapes that the surgery employees for medication; from the waist to the neck it seems as if a body-armour holds tight and models the new breast shape.
The problem for the women is that, in the days following the surgical interventions, the bandage band must be daily removed for medication and controls, and it is made up again immediately after the medication.
After 4/5 days, dressings are finally removed. The thorax is flared, the skin is inflamed since it did not breath and many zones are present on which adhesive tape remains. The glue having to be removed by oil.
Due to this procedure, elder women can be subjected to bedsores. This risk is higher during the hot season, but the skin inflammation drawback is present independently from the age. The thorax and breast are fully swollen and turgid. This problem occurs for about 30/40 days after the surgical intervention.
Swelling is diffused and furthermore, if lymph glands are removed, also zones under, in front of and behind the axillary zone swell, sometimes interestingly also the arm can often cause liquid effusion, thus requiring drawing by syringe. This is a post-surgery procedure.
At present, many calibrated bras and containing corsets are available on the market.
However, calibrated bras (i.e with a large cup and small corset or vice versa) provided with more or less elastic cups, are difficult to find and cannot suitably fit with the real build of the patient.
Containing corsets can have interchangeable cups or they can have zip-fasteners, but they have a shape not always corresponding to the shape of the patient.
To this end, it is an important underlying that present bras and corsets in any case require the use of bandages, at least during the very first days after the surgical intervention.
Beside, the products in any case are not fully satisfying: bras do not provide the tightening of the various swelling axillary and dorsal parts and, furthermore, if for some reasons they must be elastic, on the other hand, when woman moves, the breast too moves while it should remain still.
Corsets are not calibrated, i.e. it is not possible to conform their cup-thorax ratio. They have a zip-fastener closure or a hook closure (thus not being possible to enlarge the corset beyond a set dimension). Even if interchangeable cups are present, they cannot be enlarged or narrowed at will. Thus, swelling containment is not sufficiently carried out.
A first disadvantage of the products known on the market is that they cannot be used to replace bandages.
A second disadvantage is that the adjustment of corsets and/or bras for conforming the same to the patient is almost null, or very reduced, thus not permitting a suitable contaimnent and a suitable modelling of tissues subjected to the surgical intervention.